The present invention relates to a multimedia information providing method and apparatus for providing video, music, and text data to many and unspecified users through the Internet, etc., and a multimedia information reception apparatus for receiving the video, music, and text data. More particularly, the present invention relates to a multimedia information providing method and apparatus and a multimedia information reception apparatus for selecting only information of user's interest from a number of multimedia information and providing individual information to the user.
This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 10-372746, filed Dec. 28, 1998, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
In recent years, growth of information infrastructures is boosting opportunities for distributing home many multimedia information through CATV (cable television broadcasting), digital satellite broadcasting, or the Internet. A variety of programs are provided, and the number of service channels has reached an order of several hundred or several thousand. Therefore, it is becoming difficult for a user to appropriately select information from the several hundred or several thousand channels or tens of thousands or more programs in the channels.
To solve this problem, a receiver device for automatically recording programs of user's interest using the information of an electronic program list sent from a broadcasting station has been proposed (e.g., “video device” disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 7-135621).
This proposed device selects programs that may be of interest for a user from the information of an electronic program list on the basis of keywords registered in advance and automatically filters programs in units of users.
To prepare an attractive program providing program, a program provider wants to know the types of programs viewed by viewers. Conventionally, a provider raises monitors, lets them fill out a questionnaire, and gathers the results to know programs watched by the monitors. However, with the questionnaire of fill-out type, only rough information representing whether or not a viewer has watched a certain program can be obtained.
In a conventional system for automatically selecting a program from an enormous number of programs provided by a program provider in accordance with a personal taste, selection is just roughly done in units of programs. Consider a program such as a news show or a variety show. In such programs, one program is constructed by units of “topics” or “corners”. Quite often, user's interest is only in some of images in one program. However, in automatic recording in units of programs, one program is entirely selected and recorded from the beginning to the last. The user cannot know the position of information of his/her actual interest unless he/she watches the entire program. Hence, even when a program is selected and recorded by filtering, the user must watch the recorded program from the beginning to the last, wasting the recording medium and user's time.
Filtering may omit CMs contained in a program. When a broadcasted program is not a pay TV program but a free program for which the ad rate is the source of revenue, whether the viewers actually watch CMs or not is an important factor for the program provider in soliciting advertisement. Hence, to exclude CMs from the program content poses a serious problem.
In addition, conventional audience rating survey is done in units of programs and is therefore insufficient to precisely grasp the users' tastes and the like.